1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bolting operation monitoring system and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method of monitoring a bolting operation by a torque sensing and transmitting adapter including an RFID reader or a middle device such as a transducing device together with a torque control device and a bolt with an RFID tag.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional technique of Taiwan Patent no. I342821 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,704B1) mainly focuses on using shock absorbable materials and structures for the torque sensing and transmitting adapter to steadily measure torque, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. When the target value is reached, the control device may promptly send a warning signal and switch off the power. In Taiwan Patent no. I454346 (U.S. Pat. No. 9,026,379), a transducing device coupled with a connector is used to connect and drive a bolt disposed of a strain sensing element (sensing bolt) for real-time clamping force inspection, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. In US2015/0041162A1, a torque control device and a program within are used to monitor tightening torque or clamping force, but the RFID in claim 4 of the document does not participate in bolting sequence monitoring and neither are the characteristics of the RFID tag used to store information about the production traceability, sales history and bolting information of the bolt to be able to verify that a correct bolt is used or to track responsibility. However, the bolting quality and safety are especially essential for public safety-related equipment. Therefore, the accuracy of the tightening torque control, the compliance with the bolting sequence, the follow-up tracking and auditing are increasingly necessary. For the purposes of following tracking and determining the liability of bolting operations, it is required to continuously monitor the key bolting operations and to transmit, store, and save all related data.
Current advanced techniques are able to remotely monitor the fastening status of a bolt, however when bolting and if following a is prescribed bolting sequence, the order is manually marked with a color pen. The procedure is not only cumbersome, but also not trackable.
Furthermore, the widely used RFID technique has transmission power, sensing distance, and transmitting interference problems. The transmitting capability and interference problems for an RFID reader to read a nearby tagged bolt are still big challenges.
The inventor of the present invention has devised a novel monitoring system and method for bolting operations on the basis of several patents. The design overcomes the aforementioned transmitting capability and interference problems. The increased usefulness of this technique should boost its usage.